When you're tired of Denny's or some other chain, choose a joint. 'Joint' is slang for a local restaurant that makes no attempt at pretension. Food is not fancy, and serving hours may vary. No one hired an interior decorator. Joints are especially prized when service is availalble after bar closing time. The crowd is almost entirely local, and any ambiance is accidental.

Yet a good joint contains it's own ambiance, which is a product of it's clientele and decor. Joints are simply decorated, with functionality the entire point. Good taste is optional, with accidental kitsch a potential asset. But in going there you get a feeling for the local color, what the owner likes. A joint's decor is personal, and if a chain tries to do one, they do it badly. Decor is accidental. But everyone goes there. Working people college students, lawyers enjoying their first extramarital affair. The people watching is good. The people meeting is better, as your neighbor is someone you would never meet in your daily life.

Food is simple, and generally fried. Fast, tasty calories are the goal, at a good price. A pie case is nearly mandatory. All eat in dining is done on china which is generally well used and functional.

A joint must always be a friendly, welcoming place. They are more common still in small towns, but every urban community should contain several if you know where to look. Edward Hopper's most famous work The Nighthawks depicts a joint in action. They are a staple of Americana, and their uniqueness should encourage their survival in an era dominated by restaurant chains.

Syndesmosis–a type of partially movable fibrous joint where two adjacent bones are connected by ligaments. An example would be the forearm, where the radius and ulna are tightly bound by the interossious ligament.

DIARTHROSIS (Synovial / movable joint)
These joints feature a synovial capsule which surrounds and lubricates the joint. Most of the joints in the human body are diartroses. Ligaments hold the bones in place and the surfaces of the bones which move against one another are capped with cartilage to prevent wear.

There are several categories of synovial joints:

Ball and socket – this sort of joint allows a free range of movement in many directions. Examples include the hip and shoulder.

Hinge–Allows movement along a single axis only. Elbow and knee are examples.

Saddle (Sellar)–the articulation of two concave bone surfaces, allows two axes of movement. The carpometacarpal joint of the thumb is an example of this sort of joint.

Ellipsoid (Condyloid or Condylar)– this is similar to a ball and socket joint, but without significant rotation. Examples include the temporomandibular (jaw or TMJ) and radiocarpal (wrists) joints.

Pivot–a ring and axis affair such as the atlas and axis at the base of the skull. Allows for rotation only.

Gliding–flat surfaces which move across one another in one or two axes. The facet joints of the vertebrae or the joints between the small wrist (carpal) bones.

The place or part where two things or parts are joined or united; the union of two or more smooth or even surfaces admitting of a close-fitting or junction; junction; as, a joint between two pieces of timber; a joint in a pipe.

2.

A joining of two things or parts so as to admit of motion; an articulation, whether movable or not; a hinge; as, the knee joint; a node or joint of a stem; a ball and socket joint. See Articulation.

A scaly gauntlet now, with joints of steel, Must glove this hand.Shak.

To tear thee joint by joint.Milton.

3.

The part or space included between two joints, knots, nodes, or articulations; as, a joint of cane or of a grass stem; a joint of the leg.

4.

Any one of the large pieces of meat, as cut into portions by the butcher for roasting.

5. (Geol.)

A plane of fracture, or divisional plane, of a rock transverse to the stratification.

6. (Arch.)

The space between the adjacent surfaces of two bodies joined and held together, as by means of cement, mortar, etc.; as, a thin joint.

7.

The means whereby the meeting surfaces of pieces in a structure are secured together.

(b) A block for supporting the end of a piece at a joint; a joint chair. --Out of joint, out of place; dislocated, as when the head of a bone slips from its socket; hence, not working well together; disordered. "The time is out of joint." Shak.

Involving the united activity of two or more; done or produced by two or more working together.

I read this joint effusion twice over.T. Hook.

3.

United, joined, or sharing with another or with others; not solitary in interest or action; holding in common with an associate, or with associates; acting together; as, joint heir; joint creditor; joint debtor, etc. "Joint tenants of the world." Donne.

4.

Shared by, or affecting two or more; held in common; as, joint property; a joint bond.

A joint burden laid upon us all.Shak.

Joint committee (Parliamentary Practice), a committee composed of members of the two houses of a legislative body, for the appointment of which concurrent resolutions of the two houses are necessary. Cushing. --Joint meeting, or Joint session, the meeting or session of two distinct bodies as one; as, a joint meeting of committees representing different corporations; a joint session of both branches of a State legislature to chose a United States senator. "Such joint meeting shall not be dissolved until the electoral votes are all counted and the result declared." Joint Rules of Congress, U. S. --Joint resolution (Parliamentary Practice), a resolution adopted concurrently by the two branches of a legislative body. "By the constitution of the United States and the rules of the two houses, no absolute distinction is made between bills and joint resolutions." Barclay (Digest). --Joint rule (Parliamentary Practice), a rule of proceeding adopted by the concurrent action of both branches of a legislative assembly. "Resolved, by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that the sixteenth and seventeenth joint rules be suspended for the remainder of the session." Journal H. of R., U. S. --Joint and several (Law), a phrase signifying that the debt, credit, obligation, etc., to which it is applied is held in such a way that the parties in interest are engaged both together and individually thus a joint and several debt is one for which all the debtors may be sued together or either of them individually. --Joint stock, stock held in company. --Joint- stock company (Law), a species of partnership, consisting generally of a large number of members, having a capital divided, or agreed to be divided, into shares, the shares owned by any member being usually transferable without the consent of the rest. --Joint tenancy (Law), a tenure by two or more persons of estate by unity of interest, title, time, and possession, under which the survivor takes the whole. Blackstone. --Joint tenant (Law), one who holds an estate by joint tenancy.